Can’t wait for E3 2019? Neither can we. Here’s everything we know so far about this year’s show.
E3 is still a week away, and yet we’ve already seen some of its biggest games: In the last two weeks, we’ve heard rumors about a half-dozen games with one game – Watch Dogs 3: Legion – getting leaked to the public.
While leaks spoil a bit of the fun, we’ll still see plenty of new titles this time next week. There’s rumors of a new Fable game, the first details of Square Enix’s ambitious Avengers title and, if we’re lucky, we’ll get our first look at Microsoft’s next-gen console. By the time the Nintendo Direct hits on Tuesday morning, we could be up to our eyes in new games coming later this year.
That’s because, no matter how it changes over the years, E3 is still the biggest event in gaming. Whether it’s held at a hotel, a convention center or somewhere out in Hollywood, it is the definitive industry event of the year, where gamers from around the world get together to see what comes next for consoles, handhelds, PCs, mobile phones and everything in between.
While we can’t spoil all the surprises ahead of time, we can hopefully provide some insight – and some predictions – as to the games we’ll get to see at this year’s show.
Officially, the 2019 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 2019) will begin on Tuesday, June 11 and end on Thursday, June 13. Those dates, however, are just for the portion of the show held inside the Los Angeles Convention Center.
In reality, the first big event of E3 2019 is the EA Play kick-off event that’s slated for Friday, June 7 at the Hollywood Palladium. While EA has told us not to expect a keynote speech, that Friday afternoon is the first time we’ll be able to play the publisher’s upcoming titles, as well as get some info about games coming out in the next year or two.
Between EA Play on Friday and the opening of the show floor on Tuesday morning you can also expect a press event for Microsoft sometime on Sunday afternoon with a chance of Bethesda, Square Enix, Ubisoft and Nintendo announcing a keynote later.
We expect to be in Los Angeles from Friday until Thursday, and gamers with an entry pass should try to do the same.
Keynote time: The EA Play livestream event kicks off at 9:15am PST, and ticketed fans are welcome to join EA Play at the Hollywood Palladium on Saturday, June 8.
EA has an early lead going into 2019 with its plans already detailed on the publisher’s website. To that end, EA says it will be hosting its annual EA Play event on June 8 with free tickets to be distributed shortly.
What can we expect at EA’s livestream event? Well, instead of a traditional keynote, EA is doing individual breakout sessions for each of its main franchises. Here’s a complete breakdown of the event sent to TechRadar:
9:15am: Countdown to EA PLAY
9:30am: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Hosted by Greg Miller and Andrea Rene)
10:00am: Apex Legends (Hosted by Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez)
10:30am: Battlefield™V (Hosted by Julia Hardy and Adam Freeman (EA))
11:00am: FIFA 20 (Hosted by Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez)
11:30am: Madden NFL 20 (Hosted by Adam Rank)
12:00pm: The Sims4 (Hosted by Andrea Rene)
So what’s going to be at the event downtown? According to a press release from EA on which games it’s bringing to E3 2019, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order from Respawn Entertainment will definitely be there. It’s more than likely we’ll hear about some addition to the Titanfall universe – either a second spin-off title or Titanfall 3 – as well as its plans to expand its successful battle royale shooter, Apex Legends.
Elsewhere inside EA’s event we’ll see announcements for the next version of the Madden, FIFA, NHL and NBA Live franchises and, very likely, another expansion for The Sims 4 that might continue StrangeVille’s story-first approach.
Less likely but still possible are new games from EA’s DICE studio, the developers behind the Battlefield and Star Wars Battlefront games who have yet to announce a project for 2019, as well as projects from PopCap (famous for Plants vs Zombies) and Ghost Games, the new stakeholders of the Need for Speed franchise.
